Progress

This past week saw some big changes at our house. My dad and brother came up to work on the siding. It was so exciting to come each day after work and see what they had accomplished. In spite of rain almost everyday, they got finished up the two sides they had started and also the North side. The west side is started but Jon still needs to figure out how to attach the chimney. They're planning to come back up this week to finish the west side and put the facia (trim piece under where the gutters go) on the south, west and the last piece on the north.

Today we worked on running the wiring. It was impressive to see how fast this goes. It's not done but it shouldn't take too long. Jon's college friend Dave is here to help for the weekend. We love when people volunteer to come out. We feel blessed that Dave is giving us a weekend-especially since he had to drive down from the twin cities. While the guys were running wire, Jon's mom and I cleaned up and started to move extra stuff down to the basement so we're closer to being ready for the drywall.

This afternoon, Pat (Jon's mom) and I went to Ames for a shopping/learning trip. The guys needed some more stuff for the wiring project and it is time to get more serious about flooring. We had a great time looking at tile, getting prices and learning about our options. We also looked at bathroom vanities so we would have a better idea of styles when we go to meet with the cabinetry guy tomorrow. We need to take him the walnut for the master bathroom and tell him how we want the vanity. I'm also really excited to see the progress on our kitchen cabinets!

In looking at the coming week we're hoping to see a lot of changes:

• siding and outside trim finished
• chimney figured out/installed
• wiring finished
• gutters installed (they're coming Friday)
• garage location laid out, and approved by the county
• pouring garage footings next Saturday
  

Patio Retaining Wall Progress

The retaining wall for the patio is going up slowly but surely. The stairs take time to cut the blocks to fit, one location that mortar would definitely speed up. The West wall is up to height, and some of the cap blogs are in place. The North and South sides will stair-step up to the house, and have more to go. The patio will have concrete pavers in the center when it is done.

This weekend is setting electrical boxes and figuring out garage footings, wanna come help? Next week is wiring and more work on garage footings.

Retaining Wall progress

Here are photos of the retaining wall as of dark last night. The bottom photo shows the start to the stairs leading out of the NW corner. It doesn't look like much now, but once the bottom course of block is buried, it will look better. Wanna come help this week?

Labor Day Weekend Progress

Since Thursday, a lot has happened. After all of the prep work leading up to it, Michele's Dad and brother Andrew got a long ways on the siding on the South and East sides on Friday before they had to go attend to their own responsibilities. Probably a good 3 hours and those 2 sides will be done. The North side has the dreaded electric meter to go around and the West side needed to have the retaining walls put up first. I have been pretty sick for about a week, and nearly useless as I tried to get better and just keep up with the questions and decisions.

This weekend, I was feeling better, and we worked on the retaining wall for the walkout basement patio on the West side. Saturday and Sunday were prep work. Today we worked until dark and have 5 courses of block up, and a good start on the stairs leading out of it. We were too busy to keep up with photos of that.

We'll start on the garage soon...

Labor Day - Retaining Wall

Well, a lot has happened since the last posting. The interior framing is down to a few details remaining. The last exterior hole - a door - will be put in tomorrow. The plumbing is all roughed in. The ductwork is nearly completed. The power line has been run to the meter socket and turned on - we have 4 outlets that are hot! The phone line is run to the house, causing an immediate temporary outage of the power. The geothermal wells have been dug and connected to the house. The window wells have been put in and backfilled. And as the photos below show, the siding has started!

The retaining wall block has been delivered. In celebration of Labor Day, we will be laboring to put it in for the sunken patio on the West side of the house, away from the road.